For What it's Worth
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.
1. Light

For What it's Worth

Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.

Takuya K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

><p>'My lord?'<p>

The addressed turned to the speaker, the fire, golden bright tails flickering like a protective barrier and reminiscent of the luminous halo of heat around the epitome of the solar system, fluttered behind him like a cape flowing in a gentle breeze. The rest of him was shielded by the blinding vision, but it mattered not. He was majestic and worship-worthy enough without the full magnitude of his appearance being bestowed upon those in servitude.

He regarded the servant a little curiously, before returning to the rippling water, and the image within he was examining. 'Is it true?' he asked, almost conversationally, but the other quivered slightly at the tone. 'These children from the other world defeated and purified Cherubimon?'

'Y-yes my lord,' she stuttered. 'They did.'

'How?'

'Hybrid-Z. The transcend form sir. The flame child pierced his head with a blade thereafter.'

'Transcend?' A hint of surprise graced the deep voice laced with power, before returning to its normal state with a touch of thoughtfulness. 'This makes things...interesting.'

'Sir. Do you think they can-'

The other cut him off. 'I think this calls for some...investigation.'

The word was almost chilling, but the command that followed was crisp and sharp.

'Send for him. You know what to do with the rest.'

The servant bowed, the four wings spreading out in preparation for flight. 'You wish is my command my lord.'

The sun, the lone figure of light in the night land, smiled content.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

Light

* * *

><p>'Wait, what?' Takuya waved his arms frantically, staring rather baffled at the female angel that had suddenly blocked their path with a message. 'Who wants to see me?'<p>

'That is not your concern,' she replied coolly. 'You are simply to be informed that your presence is requested at the _Apollon Musegetes_ near the heart of this continent by the time the first rays of the sun appear on the horizon.'

She pointed with the staff she held in her right hand, and the six children and three accompanying digimon, turned to look.

'Does the sun even rise on this continent?' the brunette had to ask, albeit a little stupidly.

Kouji began to roll his eyes, before realising he wasn't entirely sure himself.

The other three simply looked at the one who should know the answer.

'It does,' Kouichi affirmed. 'But the days are simply far shorter here, and the clouds cover most of the light.'

'The sun always exists,' the angel interjected, a bit of a bite in her tone. 'It would be unnatural otherwise.'

'Unnatural?' Takuya repeated, before the other glared at him. 'Okay, never mind. Who are you anyway?'

It was exceedingly obvious to everyone who had the luxury to watch that exchange that the female was getting rather ticked off, and it was with great visible restraint that she returned to her original message.

'To ensure your presence,' she said, face melding into an expression of stone to mask the frustration the other seemed to naturally bestow. 'I will be taking a boon.'

Takuya opened his mouth again, before his eyes snapped to the end of her line of vision. The three rookies crowded together to the side, one curiously watching the conversation, one napping, and one focusing on something only he understood.

'Hey!' he shouted, snatching up his D-scanner and evolving into Agunimon in an instant, the others following suit as Bokomon muttered an 'Oh dear' under his breath. 'Leave them alone...whoever you are!'

'Darcmon,' the white gnome supplied helpfully, backing out of harms way as the warriors of wind and thunder launched themselves into the air to meet the angel that had taken flight, flame and ice flanking them down below. 'An adult level vaccine digimon who has been known as the Goddess of the Battlefield-'

He was suddenly cut off by an unfamiliar cry of '_Hikari no Imashime'_ and a cry of pain which was _very_ familiar.

'Ni-san!' That was Kouji's voice; Wolfmon's to be precise, a hint of panic in the tone. Perhaps it was that panic that made the others whip around like they did...momentarily forgetting the Darcmon and her goal, until the cry of '_La Pucelle' _caused the four to snap back...too late.

Flecks of dust scattered less than an inch off the ground as Fairymon and Blitzmon rose higher into the air, seeing out into the deep expanses of the Continent of Darkness, spying simply the cascades of folded, fragmented land with the Venus Rose shining above a hole of nothing, and to the edge, the forest which marked its edge. Below them were two warriors awaiting word, the third checking on the unconscious fourth, but that was all that moved. The messenger, the two attackers (assuming there were two of course), were gone, and they had taken their digimon friends with them.

'Nothing,' Fairymon reported, touching down lightly and letting data envelop her as she returned to her human state, the warrior of thunder following suit. 'They're gone.'

Takuya looked in the direction that had been pointed to them. 'At least we know where they're going.'

He looked a moment longer, before turning away and going over to the twins, the younger attempting to hide his worry behind the usual stoic expression and hovering over the elder, repeating his came until he began to stir.

The boy groaned lightly, almost in protest, and a sudden silence greeted him. But already on the path to consciousness, his eyelids fluttered slightly, before opening almost haphazardly, the one closer to the ground more at ease than the other due to the side and rather awkwardly sprawled position he lay in.

The first thing that registered with an unwelcome headache, though not unbearable. The second was that five rather worried faces were staring at him. Despite a rather failed attempt on Kouji's part.

The third...was that it was completely quiet. Unnaturally so, seeing as they had been in the middle of an unexpected battle.

'Where-?' he began, attempting to sit up, only for his head to spin and arms to consequently bulk and drop him gracefully into his brother's ready hold.

'Take it easy,' Kouji said softly, helping him up to lean against him. 'That was a direct hit.'

'Where'd it come from?' Junpei asked. 'I thought we had that Darcmon surrounded.'

'It was someone else,' the younger twin said, pointing in the other direction. 'The light came from over there, but I didn't get a good look at the digimon who attacked except it looked like a woman.'

'Another one.' The eldest of the six groaned, and the warrior of darkness followed suit, though for a different reason.

'It's nothing,' he said immediately to the concern looks that instigated, but the stern glare he received in return made him yield...slightly. 'Just a headache.' He paused slightly, finally registering the absence of their full team. 'Where's Patamon? And Bokomon and Neemon?'

'That Darcmon took them,' Tomoki replied quietly. 'We sort of got distracted, and she used that.'

Kouichi looked away, and his brother growled, before hoisting him to his feet.

'You okay to walk?' he asked, instead of the lecture on misplaced guilt he had intended. The brothers' relationship was still a little too new for them to be able to indulge in deeper connections of that sort. Especially since that 'misplaced' guilt plagued them both.

After all, that attack had been aimed at him.

The elder twin recognised that, and so simply nodded, taking a few steps to stand on his own, absentmindedly rubbing his temple to stem off the headache.

'Where?' he asked quietly. Not why, but where. 'The _Apollon Musegetes_?'

The other five looked at each other. 'That's the place she wants us to go...right?' Takuya's brow furrowed slightly. 'I guess so; there's no sense going anywhere else. Only I've never heard of the place before. It doesn't even sound Japanese.'

'It's not. I think it's Greek. It translates to the epitaph of Apollo.'

'The Greek God of the Sun?' Izumi asked, surprised. 'And on the _Dark_ continent?'

'It's underground actually.'

'Underground? Talk about messed up.'

Kouichi bit his lip lightly. 'Come on,' he gestured, starting to walk eastward. 'We're wasting time standing here.'

Kouji scrutinised him briefly, before falling into step, and the others caught up a moment later.

'You know where it is?' Junpei asked, having been the only one to pick that point up.

The elder twin shrugged. 'Under the Dark Continent, and a little under the Forest and Earth Continents, there is a labyrinth. The _Apollon_ _Musegetes_ is said to be the one room where the sun shines, but apparently no-one has ever found it.'

Kouji growled, annoyed. 'So we're walking blind.'

'Not necessarily,' the warrior of ice pointed out. 'Darcmon mentioned something about the heart of the continent. Maybe that's some sort of clue.'

'Wasn't the heart the Venus Rose?' the blonde asked.

Kouichi shook his head. 'It's just an area where the flow of the ten elements is the strongest. Minerals from the soil were extracted and taken to the Venus Rose, specifically to the Chamber of Spirits, and utilised. So most digimon assume that that is the heart of the Continent.'

'So,' Takuya frowned. 'You know where this area is? 'cause the rest of us know about as much as where our feet are.'

The boy slipped a hand into his pocket, withdrawing his D-scanner and activating the compass, before frowning. 'It's below an area that has already been scanned,' he noted. 'We'll have to use the labyrinth.'

'Can't we just fly?'

'And how do you suggest we dive through empty space.' Kouji rolled his eyes at the brunette before his brother could speak. '_Inside_ the labyrinth, remember?'

'Oh yeah...' Takuya rubbed his head sheepishly, before staring at the twins again. 'Hey, how do you know that anyway?'

Kouichi half turned to glance at his expression, reading curiosity, before turning back to the front. 'Cherubimon.'

'Oh.' And sensing he was starting to tread into shallow water, he wisely halted the conversation.

Tomoki ran a few paces ahead to catch up to him. 'Takuya-nii?' he asked. 'Do you think they'll be okay?'

'Sure they will,' the brunette replied, grinning and patting the orange hat. 'She said that she's only taking them as an insurance policy.'

'Do you actually believe that?' the warrior of thunder asked sceptically.

The warriors of flame and light exchanged glances, before Kouji answered. 'Warriors like her follow codes of honour before anything else. I think she will keep her word. If she is a Goddess of the Battlefield, she won't be one to pray on those weak or defenceless.' He turned back, to find his brother had halted and was squinting at something in the distance. 'Ni-san?'

'Can you see that?' he asked, a little distracted.

The other looked too, but saw nothing. 'Nothing out of the ordinary,' he commented, seeing the other frown slightly.

'It's gone now,' he murmured in a faint surprise, moving to walk again. 'But I could have sworn I saw-' He cut himself off suddenly, noticing the purple light reappearing almost at their feet. 'Move!'

Startled by the sudden cry, they obeyed, and the mauve foxes clawed uselessly in the air, before changing cause.

On guard now, they dodged, using any available moment to evolve straight into their beast or fusion forms...except the warrior of Darkness who suddenly found the fox spirit almost upon him.

He used the leftover momentum to roll out of the way of the next strike, before a _Zwei Handler_ knocked it down. Another fox met the wolf, and both streams of light burst into something reminiscent of fireworks as Izumi and Takuya, both airborne, were knocked down by sudden bursts of light.

Kouichi made to sit up again, only to suddenly find himself half pinned under a fox-like woman, armoured in purple and black with silver hair whipping behind her in two separate strands and a silver staff in one hand. Actually, it was the staff trapping his upper body, but he was simply in too awkward a position to do anything.

Until Blizzarmon's flying axes caused the female digimon to remove the staff, giving him enough time to slip out and evolve into KaiserLeomon.

The axes buried themselves into the ground as the lady fox raised her staff and unleashed the spirits she commanded once more. Ardhamon fired his Corona Blasters to counter, amplified by Shutumon's wind, but it was only when another _Zwei_ _Handler_ hit that the purple energy faded into nothingness.

Only, the digimon had used that distraction to return to her parry with the Dark Lion.

'_Hikari no Imashime_!' she cried, summoning the light to her call.

KaiserLeomon, remembering the attack, summoned his own darkness around himself in a counter, launching himself forward in the same instance the other's attack completed with a cry of _Schwarz König_. The two conflicting powers collided, and everyone not involved in the collision instinctively covered their faces as dust obscured their vision.

Silence descended after that, before a cry of _Hikari no Mandela_, which while they understood for the Japanese, they didn't understand the significance of.

That is, until Shutumon blew the wind away and revealed the element of darkness below them, with the silver staff pointed downward to the centre and the lion who embodied it panting at the edge.

Blizzarmon was shifting from foot to foot. 'What do we do?' he muttered. 'The sun would have risen by now in the other continents. We don't have that much time.'

'You have under an hour,' the attacker responded, looking at each of the six warriors, before lifting her staff off the ground, before letting it drop.

It never hit the ground, Beowulfmon having caught it in his twin blade. 'We don't have time for this,' he shouted, as Bolomon and KaiserLeomon knocked the female away with a combination of thunder and darkness, though the circle beneath the warrior of darkness leeched some of that power. 'Kouichi, you're pretty much useless here, and besides, you're the only one who knows the way! Take the others.'

'No way,' the elder twin yelled back. 'I won't just leave you here to fight alone-' He cut himself off when he realised that he _was_ useless, for the same reasons he was more powerful against the cloned Cherubimon and the IceDevimon. The same reason he had been so weak in the Light Chamber. The fox woman's light, leeching off the elemental power of his brother's spirit, was more powerful than his own. It was more powerful than any of them, except perhaps the one whose spirit was directly associated, but more so his own because it was diametrically opposite on the elemental spectra. And he was right on the other account too; they were running out of time.

'All right,' he said in a quieter tone. 'Be careful.'

He fired a round of missiles at the woman, before taking the opportunity to raise two fingers in confidence. 'Don't worry about it.'

Kouichi backed out of the circle, devolving as he did so, before spinning around and grabbing the nearest digimon, Shutumon, and running in the direction they had started in.

'Hey,' she exclaimed, devolving as the other three stared at each other. 'You can't-'

'We have to,' he said firmly, though his voice shook on the undertone. 'We can't all stay and fight, and the rest of us are at a disadvantage against her. Kouji's attacks are the only ones that are working. We'll just be in the way. Kouji will be fine.'

Realising that was true, the other two devolved as well, Takuya, still as Ardhamon, scooping them all up. 'Well be faster flying,' he pointed out. 'Which way?'

'Keep on going straight,' the warrior of darkness said quietly, resisting the urge to turn back to the flashes of white and purple light.

He just had to believe his brother would be fine. Bokomon, Neemon and Patamon were still waiting...and they had three quarters of an hour left.

Below, Beowulfmon watched them go with half an eye. 'Now what?' he asked. 'I don't believe you intend to destroy me, but still you intended this encounter.'

'What tells you so?' the fox asked in a monotone.

'The way you fight,' the wolf replied. 'It was almost as if you meant to drive them away. Why else would you attack my brother directly and no one else; light and darkness make for quite a dangerous combination. You took as much damage as he did, if not more, from that collision.'

'You see well warrior of light,' the female noted in answer. 'You are right, that is not my intention. But damage is inconsequential, for I am Kuzuhamon, and I have the gift of healing at my fingertips.'

'Kuzuhamon...what is it you want from me?'

* * *

><p><span>Post Author's Notes<span>

Timeline: As I mentioned in the summary, this is a floating timeline, so it doesn't really specifically fit in to canon season 4. Parts that follow through: everything up till Cherubimon getting destroyed basically, with the Digital World impersonating Swiss cheese really. Anything else...well, the gaps will be filled in due course. Sort of like a movie continuum. Events from the canon relate to the movie, but not necessarily vice versa, like Digimon Frontier: Revival of the Lost Digimon, or Supreme Evolution: The Golden Digimentals. Or any of the movies from Pokémon for that matter.

Hybrid Z (Zeta)/Transcend Form: It is called unified spirit evolution in the English dub. On that note, Hybrid H is human spirit evolution, Hybrid B is beast spirit evolution and Hybrid A standes for Advanced (ie. Fusion) evolution.

_Apollon Musegetes:_ lit. the epithet of Apollo, Roman (and Greek) God of light and the sun, as well as other things.

_Hikari no Imashime_ – lit. light penalty. Kuzuhamon's attack (the big flash of light) (a God man digimon and a variation of the Sakuyamon species. She's actually got an interesting legend behind her. If you have time, check it out).

_La Pucelle_ – lit. The Maiden. Darcmon's attack (the digimon from Frontier's Movie)

_Ura Izuna_ – lit. Reverse Izuna. Kuzuhamon's attack (the purple fox spirit one)

_Zwei hander – _lit. Two Handler. Frozen Hunter in English dub.

_Schwarz König_ – lit. Black King. Dark Master in the English dub.

_Hikari no Mandela_ – lit. Mandela of light (Mandela: a schematized representation of the cosmos, chiefly characterized by a bunch of geometric shapes which contain image/attribute of deities/elements). In this fic, I've decided the elements to be the ten elements, ie. light, darkness etc, each which zaps the power of the respective warrior and digimon type.

By the way, as a side note, martial artists tend to be better than the average person at reading their opponents. Hence that last exchange.

The twins sort of dominated this chapter. Don't worry; I don't think that happens again. After all, Takuya is the main character.


	2. Thunder

For What it's Worth

Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.

Takuya K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

><p>The wolf and fox danced, blade clashing with staff as the two twirled together and then sprung apart. From the distant Venus Rose, violet light reflected off the silver weapon Kuzuhamon wielded, no less impressive than the Beo Sabre's golden hue. It was an interesting sort of fight; elementary wise, they were both evenly matched. And neither aimed to kill. But it was still a test of wits and grace and will which only amounted to one thing: pride.<p>

A deity, the fox spirit that ruled over the Light realm and commanded the ties of understanding and wisdom through the _Taizoukai Mandala_, standing herself in the centre, upon the border between the Eight Petal Hall and the Hall of the Wisdom of the Kings while opening the expanses to the physical world to bestow the subtle wisdom very few noted though all used. A daughter of the light, fighting the inheritor of the spirits of her benefactor, and finding, with each clash they sprung apart from with no grace nor substance lost, that he, AncientGarurumon, could not have chosen a better heir.

Which would have made anyone watching wonder why in the world they were still fighting, although on Kouji's part there was the very real possibility that the goddess would go after his friends, and particularly, his brother, more vulnerable than the others against the light that sourced his spirits, and while it should theoretically have worked both ways, the kitsune had an advantage of being able to heal herself which the other obviously lacked.

Perhaps it was counterintuitive to fight fire with fire, but the threat she presented, even if it wasn't directed specifically at him, was enough to spur it on. It was odd, as both combatants knew the fight wasn't specifically aimed at them, but more so the principle. One could even go as so far to call it a sparring match, on the grounds of training, learning and growing as a martial artist.

But who was the teacher, and who was the student?

The distance suddenly descended upon them, the momentum of the spring enough to allow them to retaliate at each other with metaphysical attacks. A _Licht Angriff_ shot forward, the laser aspect being halted by the _Ura Inuza_, but the bullets effortlessly shot through the light and hit their target.

The silver staff whirled in the air seconds before, too little to block the deadly projectiles but enough to summon something of a retaliation. Her own _Setsuna no Ichigeki_ erupted, thundering down like a God's retribution on their kind.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

Thunder

* * *

><p>Ardhamon skidded to a halt in midair. No-one needed to ask why either; the large explosion that had literally shaken the ground beneath them was enough of a reason...at the exact place they had left their friend still fighting beyond his years. He felt someone's fists dig into the sensitive skin on his back, though he couldn't be sure who. The sudden stiffness though, as if he was suddenly carrying a box of lead, told him that Kouichi had at least seen it too, and assumed the worst.<p>

'Kou-' he began, not even knowing what he had meant to say, but being spared the trouble as the other cut him off.

'Go down.'

'Now?'

He craned his neck to look up at the warrior of darkness, now turned away from the scene with darkened eyes and looking below them. 'Hai.'

'Um…okay.'

Ardhamon landed smoothly, and the others climbed quietly off his back as he devolved. Takuya turned back to the four, all looking in the same direction, before Kouichi turned away to look at the barren landscape before them, D-scanner clenched tightly in one fist and beeping faintly.

Silence prolonged, until the warrior of thunder, finding the lack of sound deafening, broke it awkwardly.

'What are we doing?'

'Waiting,' Kouichi said quietly.

'For-?'

His question was cut off by a sudden burst of lightning.

'That.'

The blast had left a temporary crater in the soil, shallow and easily covered by an hour's slow wind. Nothing seemed significant about it at all, except the thunder, every time, hit the exact same place.

The place where the soil balanced all but thunder.

'Um…' Takuya stared blankly at the spot, already beginning to fade. He let the thought trail off, but no-one offered any sort of an explanation at all, all somewhat scattered by the loss of a link in that chain.

'Kouji-ni's okay, right?' Tomoki asked, staring at him. 'Right Takuya-ni?'

The brunette said nothing immediately, giving the elder twin a half-long glance with one eye. Said twin was staring now at his D-scanner, or more specifically, a blinking blue dot.

'Kouichi?'

'I-' he started, before faltering. 'My heart's telling me that…he's okay, he's fine…but…'

'Hey,' the warrior of flame grinned, relieved. 'If that's what your heart thinks, then he's fine. You'd know best, especially since you're getting a signal from his D-scanner.'

He nodded as the others voiced their agreement, giving the signal one last look, as if completely reassuring himself of its existence and banishing lingering fear, before slipping the device into his pocket.

'Now, about that thunder thing…'

'The Dark Continent is unique in that it contains areas where one particular element is strongest, or weakest, dominating or being dominated by the others. When it is dominating, the opposing element appears most prominent. When it is dominated, it itself appears so. The darkness over the spot we were earlier signified that light was most powerful there. Here, where the lighting repeatedly strikes in the same place, is where thunder is weakest. In other areas, there is a balance between the ten elements, collecting residue from the imbalances of the other continents and stabilising the life force.'

'Like discharging?' Junpei asked.

'I guess so.'

'I still don't get it,' Takuya mumbled, scratching the back of his head. 'Okay, some elements strong, some are weak. What's that got to do with where we're going?'

'The imbalances are weak spots in the Digital World's framework,' Kouichi continued to explain. 'We should be able to slip part the defence between the underground network and the overlayer we're on. A weak spot in the firewall essentially.'

'And we do that…how? Step through it?'

'Jump actually.'

He gaped. 'Seriously? I was kidding.'

'Hey,' Izumi said suddenly. 'How many digimon know about this?'

'Not too many,' Kouichi replied. 'Just the higher order. Cherubimon, his warriors, the other celestial digimon, and some of the other ultimate level digimon like the Olympus Twelve and the Royal Knights.'

'So…if it's so secretive, why isn't someone guarding it?'

The raven's head snapped up, before glancing around in a slight panic. 'I forgot,' he whispered. 'There _should_ be someone here…last I heard in any case.'

Tomoki, Junpei and Izumi looked around as well, but it was the blonde, her eyesight keener than the others due to her bird datalines, who spotted him first.

'Does that "guardian" happen to be a giant eagle with chains of thunder wrapped around him?'

'What?' Kouichi, Takuya and Tomoki, who had all been facing the other direction at that point, turned in shock, before all five of them ducked as a chain flew over their heads.

'The heck?' the brunette spluttered, spitting out a mouthful of dust. 'Where'd that come from?'

The others scrutinised the sky above them carefully, just being able to see the slight hue of golden wings and silver chains through the veiling blanket of darkness, stifling in a foggy mist.

'Now what?' Tomoki yelled, rolling away from another chain. 'Izumi-nee, you jinxed us!'

'I did not,' the blonde shrieked, pulling out her D-scanner to evolve directly into JetSilphymon, only to be stopped by Junpei. 'Wind and lightning are a very bad combination,' he pointed out. 'And ice and fire are rather useless as well.'

'I can fight,' Kouichi said quietly. 'Darkness is a good matchup.'

'Yes,' the other replied. 'But then who's going to save them from walking blind?'

Not 'us', he noted, but 'them'.

The younger boy bit his lip lightly.

'Besides,' the elder pointed out. 'A tank can't move very well in an underground labyrinth, and we can't spare any more than one person. Who knows what else is waiting, and we need to get Takuya to whoever wanted to see him, wherever they wanted to see him.'

'And what's the good if we keep losing friends!' Takuya yelled.

'We're not,' Junpei yelled back, whipping out his own D-scanner and evolving to RhinoKabuterimon in a single, fluid motion, his large body saving them from taking a very nasty shock. 'Those last two digimon didn't seem evil, and neither does this one.'

'I agree,' Tomoki said softly, and Izumi and Kouichi both nodded.

'Well, I'd have to admit that too,' the brunette said impatiently, but that's not the-'

'That's exactly the point Takuya,' the half-metalloid yelled, firing a thunder laser at the streak of thunder that came lashing at him. 'You need to be somewhere, and we're helping you get there. Simple as that.'

He would have hesitated further, but he could see the sense, and he believed, just like the fox lady from before, that these two would not fight to kill.

'Good luck Junpei,' he said softly, before walking over to where the others are standing.

The ultimate-hybrid stared at the giant eagle. 'I'll need it.'

Funny, how much he had grown in a short time. Less than a month ago, he had been scared out of his wits at breaking out a bunch of slave workers. Now, he was more than willing to fight for his friends…even with the small doubt that accompanied certainty.

'Let's do this,' he growled, readying his laser again as he noted Takuya jumped through the soil, Tomoki right behind him. With a yell of 'Thunder Laser', he shot another streak of condensed thunder, causing the bird to arch his body away from the strike to save his feathers.

'Warrior of Thunder,' the ultimate digimon thundered, lowering and projecting more of his form as the darkness parted under his weight. 'You think you can defeat me?'

'No,' Junpei replied honestly. 'But that doesn't mean I can't fight a good fight.'

There was a rumbling sound, like large bounders rolling atop each other. It took a while for the hybrid to realise the other was _laughing_.

'What's so funny?' he asked uncertainly, noticing Izumi had gone as well. 'And who are you anyway?'

'Jupitermon,' the digimon replied, voice booming across the empty plains, as the last human faded from sight. 'I rule the skies and thunder and guard my weakness. If you can truly fight me to the end, then I will take pride in knowing I have not overestimated you in my desire for order in a chaotic world.'

The golden wings spread again, catching the purple tint from the Venus Rose. RhinoKaburiterimon tensed, readying himself for an attack, as the other roared, chains lashing with a cry of _Mokuyōbi no handan_.

The half rhino, half tank revved back, tires squealing to avoid the deadly projectiles, using the few openings he seized to fire lasers back. The eagle dodged them with some effort, and it soon became apparent that due to the sheer size of both combatants, speed was essentially useless.

It was a clash of the titans; power against power.

'_Ran-ryū no sora_!'

The sky twisted, for lack of a better turn, throwing out wind, rain and hail in hazardous combinations. The tires skidded in the suddenly slick ground, and static sparked as some of the elemental power was automatically discharged into the atmosphere.

Growling softly, RhinoKabuterimon gathered the power inward, charging up his batteries instead of wasting power to the outer world, watching the eagle bring his wings together, chains wrapping around them in a cocoon, but leaving a gap about his crest, just enough of a gap that a good shot could fire through.

'_Yakan no raiu_!'

Thunder descended…but he was the warrior of thunder. He could withstand that. He shouted out the name of his own attack at that point, molding and twisting the storm to turn it into a deadly canon to crash into the other's head.

'Condenser storm!'

The strike hit, but not before a retaliation echoed about the empty plain.

'_Kyōkai_!'

A moment of complete stillness, then trace lines suddenly drew themselves on the ground beneath him. A moment more, they did nothing, before the circle shown bright…

…and then nothing, save the thunder striking upon the spot where its power lacked.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes<span>

Jupitermon isn't technically an OC; he's listed as one of the Olympus Twelve. Only problem is, no description, no attacks. No nothing. So, following the same theme as the others, I looked up the Roman God Jupiter, piggybacked a little of Sailor Moon's relations to the Roman Gods as well, and built up an appearance and attack list of my own.

Attacks:

_Yakan no raiu_ (夜間の雷雨): nocturnal thunderstorm

_Ran-ryū no sora_ (乱流の空): turbulent skies

_Mokuyōbi no handan_ (木曜日の判断): Thursday's decision

_Kyōkai_ (境界): boundary

Kuzukamon's attack translations:

_Setsuna no Ichigeki_: breaking the moment

_Taizoukai Mandala_: womb realm Mandela

Also, since this is floating timeline, I'm introducing the fusion forms of all the warriors, otherwise they're no match for mega level digimon in theory. I can do that because in the movie Supreme Evolution: The Golden Digimentals, Hikari's and Takeru's digimon digivolve into mega forms not shown in the continuum of the anime.

And seriously, they only give RhinoKabuterimon two attacks, and no explanation. And he doesn't look like he inherited Blitzmon's wings either.

Well, that's two down. You've probably figured out the chapter naming conventions by now.

And note I never specified what happened to Kouji _or_ Junpei. So don't jump to conclusions.

Hope you enjoyed.


	3. Ice

For What it's Worth

Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.

Takuya K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

><p>'Tis going as planned, Milord.'<p>

'Indeed,' the giant sun digimon mused, staring at the vision of the four warriors standing in a circle not even a hundred metres from pair and their sanctuary, but now walking blind. 'They've come far.'

'They'll goin' round in circles yet,' a new voice, this one female like the messenger and master but accented, commented. 'Despite the strength their hearts possess.'

'Not for long,' said another, male and grave. 'They will never stop searching.'

'No,' the majestic leader agreed. 'They will not. Together.'

He looked significantly at the two generals, and the third, standing slightly behind them and strangely tight lipped.

'Have you nothing to add Mervamon?'

She sniffed disdainfully, though making sure to maintain the appropriate level of respect. 'It is not fitting for the warriors of wind to clash beneath the earth.'

'Well, excuse gentlemen for being gentlemen,' the other lady laughed. 'No man will let a woman into a fight they can fight themselves, no matter how capable they prove.'

'And no woman with backbone will allow themselves be walked over by them,' Mervamon replied, sounding rather amused. 'As you should well know Dianamon.'

'But it ain't entail stupi'ity.' Dianamon wagged an icy finger. 'It's a game regarding time and delay ta'tics.'

'Hardly a game when only one side's playing,' the last occupant, full of fire himself but of a different, less magnificent, sort. 'I for one am embarrassed two of our best generals have fallen against children.'

'Do not discredit them,' Apollomon said, voice soft yet transcendent. 'They wish no harm on us so long as we do not of them. This is not about pride or power. This is about our salvation.'

He looked at his four remaining generals. 'You know your targets.'

Three nodded and left. The fourth remained by the door.

The messenger took her leave at that moment. After all, they had some houseguests that needed attending to.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

Ice

* * *

><p>'So now what?' Takuya asked, once they, once again being led by the only person who seemed to have an inkling about where they were going and was tracking who-knew-what on his D-scanner, stopped.<p>

Kouichi shrugged, before the D-scanner went into a jacket pocket. 'I have no idea. This area is what is known as the heart of the Dark Continent.'

'Area?' Tomoki asked. 'How big?'

'Don't know.'

The other two groaned. 'So we're walking blind.'

'We would have been for awhile if it hadn't been for Kouichi.' The young warrior of ice grinned at the other boy, who couldn't help but smile somewhat hesitantly back. 'Where'd you learn that stuff anyway?'

The smile faded. 'Cherubimon,' the boy muttered, almost bitterly. It was obvious that he still hadn't forgiven the corrupt angel…or perhaps in the long, twisted game in darkness, he had lost sight of who or what was really to blame for the tarnished spirit and the name that he had built for himself. Guilt still existed; he mostly spoke when spoken to, and even then refrained from giving opinions in anything short of dire circumstances. And yet, they had all but forgotten the awkwardness of someone they barely knew, someone who had fought and tried to destroy them with no fault of his own. After all, he _was_ brainwashed, and as soon as he found out the truth, he tried to stop. Of course, Kouichi himself didn't see it that way. And it was rather surprising they hadn't bumped into any digimon who shared their sentiments, though it was possible Duskmon had never actually done anything. After all, he had plenty of chances to destroy Bokomon, Neemon and Patamon, especially that one time where he was shooting air shots…but zilch. Thinking about it like that, they all had done worse things.

But no-one said anything. This really wasn't the time.

'Maybe we should split up and look around,' Izumi suggested finally, after they had stood uselessly for a few minutes. 'We won't get anywhere by just standing here.'

The others readily agreed, each taking one of the four paths left, leaving the one they had come down, and hoping Junpei would come that way and bump into one of them.

Tomoki took the eastward path; it was just the one that felt right to him. He noticed Izumi had taken one that lay somewhere between south and west, while Takuya was heading due north. Kouichi's was somewhere in between, leaning more to south.

The semi-dark passage curved away soonafter, and he lost sight of their starting point. Forks extrapolated, so he began following the right hand rule, hoping to have some indication of how to get back.

If he had looked behind him, he would have noticed the creeping ice, but as it was, he hadn't thought to do until he hit a dead end.

'Figures,' he muttered to himself. 'All right, next left.'

Only, when he turned around, the passages were all iced, leaving the wide room he stood in, and a female digimon he hadn't noticed.

'Who are you?' he asked, a tad wearily, but he felt no bad vibes from his digimon. Who knows, maybe it was another Monzamon.

'Dianamon,' the female laughed in a voice that reminded him of an older and kinder version of Ranamon. 'Ya're a cute one. Shame.'

'What's a shame?'

She grinned, twirling the double-edged staff she held. 'I didn't come all a way 'xcept to play 'round with ya. So what'ya say to a joust on the ice fiel'?'

He noticed she was cutting some of her letters. Was it on purpose, or something else?

'Well dear. 'ain't go' all day. Or all nigh' I should say. Sun's a comin'.'

Just how much time did they have left?

'I'd say 'bout twenty,' Dianamon responded to the unasked question. 'And ah'm on my way; I thought maybe ya'd play…mayhap ya friends are be'er company.'

The others? She'd slow them down. Especially if she found Takuya. And both Kouichi and Izumi would be useless against her, seeing as an ice digimon like herself had an immunity to most dark based attacks. Was it luck then, or something else, that this was the first matchup shown?

He fingered the D-scanner in his pocket, carefully eyeing the woman who turned to walk through the ice.

'Execute, Fusion Evolution. Daipenmon.'

The ice lady turned. 'Wanna play?'

'I won't let you through to my friends,' the penguin declared, sliding cleanly on the frosty floor to take vigil by the closed passageway.

'Then let's start a'quarral,' the beautiful deity of ice and water declared, striking down with her blades.

Daipenmon parried the blow with his own, using the size disadvantage to slide away from the attacks and let the ground absorb the impact. Let her tire herself out, he thought, using the minimal amount of energy to slide and parry around the blows. At least he wouldn't have to hit a girl then.

It didn't take long for her to tire as he predicted. Only problem was, he was tiring too. Perhaps not to that extent, but with a height disadvantage when it came to exchanging physical blows, it was enough to make a difference.

But body wasn't the only element in this fight.

And Dianamon had a few tricks up her sleeve.

She drew her arm back, letting a sparkling ice sheath form at her fingertips. 'Arrow of Artemis!' she cried, releasing the fully formed arrow.

Daipenmon slid back, and the smirk grew, before the moon plates on her legs suddenly glowed. Still unbalanced from the previous dodge, he had nowhere to run as the next attack hit its target dead on.

_ 'Crescent Harken!'_

She was suddenly on top of him. Wildly, he struck, again and again, but the annoying laughter echoed, and she continued to dance around him on the ice. He never saw where his strikes landed, simply wielding the swords that admittedly looked like icy-poles, red and blue, against the double-edged staff that was straying so close, he was going cross-eyed to keep it in view. The staff flashed; he brought his sword up to parry it…

…and his mind suddenly registered the burning pain at his sides.

That wasn't right, he realised. Why couldn't he see his own weapons?

Letting the blade whizz across his chest-plate, he held his swords at arm's length. All he saw was the glaive.

That was it then, that attack.

And at that point, the illusion shattered, showing the real Dianamon with a hint of surprise in her expression.

'Ya know,' she said. 'Very few a digimon 'scape that.'

'Well,' I'm not them,' the warrior of ice declared, straightening his swords again.

'Ya're still fightin'?' the lady asked.

'That's right, because I've got something to fight for. Whatever it is you, or those other digimon are after, we've got friends we can't let down.'

'And ya're not lettin' them down if ya fall righ' here,' Dianamon questioned, almost teasingly.

'That's why I'm _not_ falling. And don't tell me the others have, because I know they haven't.'

'Oh? What little birdie tell' ya?'

'A little birdy called a heart. _Kakikaki-kun Blast_!**'**

The steam of red and blue shards was barely counted by the cry of 'Arrow of Athena.' The playfulness vanished as she readied herself for the real fight.

'_Kakikaki-kun Blast!'_

_ '_Arrow of Athena!' she cried again, only for the arrow to fall under the attack.

No, that wasn't right. The first attack had been overshot. But why…

'_Ichigo death!' _

A torrent of red swirling light struck her side with a harsh cry, causing her to scream out in agony at the pain that racked through her body as she shook on her feet. The blast hadn't hit anything fatal, but it was about as bad as having a salt wound there. Initially hurt, after that smarting…and adding insult to injury.

Now they were on equal ground again.

'Goodnight moon!'

The moon sang, but this wasn't a dance. Not this time.

'Storm hammer breaker!'

The ice around them all shattered, as the song sunk its fangs into the two trapped within it's cold prison of falling shards.

Then silence as the last tune faded, and the sun remained less than a quarter of an hour away from the horizon.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes<span>

Dianamon's attacks:

_Cresent Harken:_ Cresent Hook.

Daipenmon's attacks:

_Kakikaki-kun Blast_: Popsicles blast (the two popsicles that double as swords)

_Ichigo death:_ Strawberry death


	4. Darkness

For What it's Worth

Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.

Takuya K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

><p>Izumi had not been expecting to run into a dead end. Several times.<p>

All save the last had been your every day regular dead end. If you called dead ends regular. Basically, the tunnel cut off into nothing, which she found out the hard way when walking into the wall. Well, she huffed to herself as a feeling search yielded no results and she started back, excuse _her_ if she didn't have a fire to light her way or the spirits of darkness to tune her to the black, everlasting night around her.

On the way back, she made sure to stick to the main path. There had been several tangents, all leading, she found, ultimately to dead ends, causing her to turn around and continue. Till that main road let to a dead end itself. The main path twisted and curved, but it was wide enough to walk through with both arms stretched to her sides, and so she did.

Halfway down though, she realised the soft breaths of wind that told her she wasn't alone.

She sped up her gait, a little nervously. She well knew she could hold her own in a fight, but it was the fact that she couldn't see anything that unnerved her. She didn't like the idea of fighting blind. The other passages were somewhat lit; oh _why _had she picked the one that wasn't.

Duh. Because it had been lit till the first curve. Which meant that the others might not have been as well. But that didn't really make sense; the light, it was like…

She stifled a gasp, still treading silently. Thunder. It had looked like thunder. And not just any thunder, but the precise combination that should be born from a merge of RhinoKabuterimon and Jupitermon's thunders, if the little of the fight they had seen was any indication.

She walked right into something hard again, only this time feeling ice.

Wait a sec? Ice?

Could it be..?

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

Darkness

* * *

><p>Something ran into her suddenly, and she lashed out strongly, resisting the urge to scream in case she attracted foe instead of friend, before her mind registered the familiar scent of lingering gel.<p>

Takuya?

He had either seen or heard the strike, because he had stepped back, which she only realised when someone fell, cursing.

'Ouch!' Takuya yelled. 'What's with you two?'

'Two?' Izumi wondered aloud, the same time Kouichi, somewhat windily, asked Takuya to get off him. 'Oh.'

It didn't sound like anyone had moved though.

'Takuya. You're flattening me.'

'Move where?' the brunette asked. 'I can't see a thing and I really don't want to almost crack my skill open _again_. 'sides, I'm not that heavy.'

'No,' the other replied, rather sarcastically, scraping something along the floor. Or that's what it sounded like anyway. 'I'm just anorexic.'

'You're what?' For some reason, the mother in Izumi got rather angry at that (having missed the sarcasm), _especially_ when Takuya started laughing.

'Man you're good,' he chortled, face coming into view suddenly as both boys' D-scanners lit up. 'Izumi,' he added, seeing the girl's face. 'Sarcasm.'

'Oh.'

The boys got off each other, Takuya rubbing his leg and staring at a sheepish Kouichi. 'I thought you can see in the dark?'

'Cliché,' Kouichi said quietly. 'Everyone needs a source of light to see.' He stared at the ice wall at that point. 'Tomoki?'

'I was thinking that too,' Izumi admitted, returning to the wall. 'It's beginning to melt.'

Takuya touched a gloved hand to the wall, pulling away to find the traces of moisture still lingering. 'You're right. Which means that this must have been here for a while. Couldn't be longer than the last time we were here, 'cause Tomoki went through that, which means-'

'-someone blocked it after he went through,' the blonde finished, frowning and pulling out her own D-scanner, randomly pushing buttons as she had when trying to contact Takuya. 'Can't this thing come with instruct-never mind.' She got a map to appear, which showed, to their utter shock, six signals, all circling each other.

'But-' Kouichi began, eyes quickly snapping to take in any inch of their domain. 'How-?'

The other two gaped as well.

'No idea,' Izumi said, staring bewilderedly at her D-scanner. 'I must admit, I'm not sure how useful that is except affirming…'

She didn't finish that sentence, but she didn't need to. The two boys left met her hard gaze with their own form of determination.

'Ten minutes,' Kouichi said softly. 'We'd better hurry.'

'Well, I got nothing,' Takuya sighed.

'Me neither,' Izumi agreed. 'Except the feeling something was following me. Kouichi?'

She repeated the name when he didn't answer, looking down the corridor he had come.

'Huh?' He sounded a little startled, before replying. 'I thought I felt someone following me as well.'

'I didn't feel anything,' the warrior of fire said, 'but if you two _are_ being followed, then…what?'

The two looked at each other, then back at Takuya. 'I think you're supposed to face whoever it is alone,' Izumi answered finally. 'These matchups just seem so…convenient. Light where Kouichi was only any good if he got blown up in the process, Junpei and Tomoki were disadvantaged in terms of weapons, and my attacks were useless. Thunder, where the only three people who can fight are the guide we can't afford to lose, the guy we're trying to lead, and Junpei. And an ice wall conveniently locking away the warrior of ice.'

'Then we'll melt it down,' Takuya said firmly, but Kouichi was shaking his head.

'No point,' he said quietly. 'There's nothing except a dead end on the other side.'

The brunette turned back to snap, but bit it down as he followed the other's line of sight, seeing through the transparent ice to a dark tunnel ending in a dark wall.

'We've got to do something,' Takuya groaned, annoyed. 'Bokomon and Neemon are waiting for us, and we've got to find a way to-'

'Move!' Kouichi yelled suddenly, which was startling enough to get the other two to do exactly that. And they noted why soon enough, as a square pyramid had suddenly appeared in the space the three of them had been standing…relatively. The centre was right under where Kouichi's feet had been, but he had tried to jump out of the way, which left him at the edge. His warning had gotten the other two out though, and they watched in shock as the pyramid shrunk, pinning the warrior of darkness to the floor in a half sitting, half sprawled pose. The pyramid also, conveniently, blocked all the paths, except one. The dead end Izumi had just gone through, and where the pair were now stuck, thanks to the prison stretched across the floor.

Kouichi winced, trying to wiggle around to get some moving space, but the pyramid only seemed to tighten around him. His D-scanner was still in his hand, but-

'I wouldn't try that if I were you,' a light voice said suddenly, the source invisible to all but the one it was directed to.

'Where'd that come from?' Izumi whispered, staring almost nervously down the passage. 'I don't like this. Reminds me of Sephirotmon.'

'I don't see anyone either,' Takuya said. 'But pyramids like that don't randomly come out of no-where.'

He looked at his D-scanner, still shedding light, before meeting Kouichi's blue eyes, who gestured slightly with his head.

'Move it,' he said. 'You don't have time to wait.'

Takuya said nothing, but that didn't stop the female. 'I'll knock that thing down,' she said fiercely, summoning up her D-scanner, before being stopped by the warrior of fire. 'What?'

'There's something odd about that barrier,' he pointed out. 'It looks transparent.'

Kouichi, without moving his head, looked around as best as he could, spying symbols he hadn't noticed the first time round. 'It's ancient Egyptian,' he said slowly, racking his brains to find some knowledge. 'Anubismon is the only digimon I've heard of with an attack like this: Pyramid power.'

'Anubismon?'

'The Egyptian lord of the dead. He guards the dark area, acting as a sort of judge for those digimon whose data is scanned, deciding whether they should be sealed in eternal darkness or reborn.'

The last part was said so softly that the pair barely heard it.

'Correct,' the voice said again. 'But not only digimon. Humans too. Which means your friends' fates also lie in my hands.'

Takuya glared, but said nothing from a warning look from the imprisoned boy.

'Kouichi…'

'The longer you tally,' the voice continued. 'The more you try my patience.'

'Go,' the warrior of darkness persisted. 'I'll be fine. Darkness is my element after all.'

'Five,' Anubismon continued in a bored tone, still unseen. 'Four, three…'

The pair backed away simultaneously.

'I don't have all day. Two…'

'Go!'

They went. But somehow it seemed far worse than leaving a friend in a fight.

Kouichi watched him go, feeling far less brave than he had sounded, especially with the walls enclosing around him, restraining him, slowly strangling him as he could feel the slight pressure increasing even now when he could move almost nothing at all.

'Claustrophobic?' the jackel-headed digimon noted, sounding rather amused.

Kouichi said nothing.

'We might as well have a conversation to pass the time.'

'What time?' he asked suspiciously. Seeing as he was stuck in a pyramid, and Anubismon had threatened two friends away with the remainder of them (though he had helped along in that regard), he highly doubted the other was interested in an all out digimon fight.

'Irrelevant,' the wizard replied coolly. 'Time means nothing to the one who guards death, Kimura Kouichi.'

That was odd. Few digimon knew his full name. He didn't think even Bokomon and Neemon knew it. Or Patamon for that matter. He was simply known as Kouichi, Minamoto Kouji's twin brother, warrior of darkness and once the brainwashed assassin right hand of Cherubimon called Duskmon.

'Now…I find it rather interesting that they followed you this far, considering you're…history.'

The blue eyes stared at him a moment, before diverting. Not soon enough though; a tinge of darkness had fluttered through.

'They trust me,' he responded eventually, once it became apparent the other was waiting for a comment.

'You have to wonder why though,' the God-digimon mused. 'How can they trust someone who almost murdered them in cold blood-' A wince. '-so easily? How can they accept your tale with no proof?'

These were questions he had, at a time, asked himself.

'How can they stand you?' Haunting, echoing. 'With all the blood you've coated your hands with? The anger and hurt and pain you carried inside you then and still do? How have you proven yourself? By fighting, destroying…how is that proof of your trust?'

Questions that had haunted him during that immediate aftermath, before Patamon had drawn him out with his cute innocence, and he had pushed it all behind him with the battle for the Digital World still raging ahead. It faded, eventually, between fights, confrontations and cheering on the sidelines. The barriers still existed, but they had been folded down, out of sight, to be dealt with at a later time.

Now, it seemed.

'Well?'

He was doing this on purpose. He was enjoying this; perhaps enjoying was the wrong word. But he had been wanting this, waiting for it. He was watching the old wounds being dug up. And he was waiting for what order came from chaos that was been silently sorted, and had been itself sorting before his questions prompted closure.

'I can't speak for them,' he said in the end, slowly, somewhat hesitantly but with a hint of mysterious strength behind it. Words that didn't need a strong burst of power, or force, to push them out and make their meaning known. 'Thinking about it the way you've said, logically, emotionlessly, rationally…they'd have to be the most naïve people on the face of the earth to accept a person who just tried to kill them has changed. To believe something as cliché as the "evil twin" mantra.'

He could almost hear someone yelling at him indignantly at that comment, but decided he really _must_ have imagined it. Instead, he took a deep breath, as well as he could, as the prison was really starting to _hurt_, and pressed on.

'But we're humans. Humans aren't like that. There's nothing that can be objective about anything we see, any decision we make. Because we _feel_, and we trust those feelings.'

'Instincts?' the ultimate snorted.

'Heart.' The other responded, meeting his gaze steadfastly. 'They chose to believe me, believe _in_ me, and I'm not going to let them down for dwelling on a past I cannot change. I know I tell the truth, and I know the blood on my hands; although the only digimon I ever killed was Arbomon, there was pain and injury spread by my hands still.'

'An ally, alone on your death toll.'

'Yes, an ally. An ally who cared nothing for me, nor I for him. An ally who only followed the same master for where it led him to the end. There was no connection there. No team. But these guys are different. They're connected, bonded in such a way that makes them more powerful as a team than as an individual. You know that, you, or whoever you work for. You've split us up. You've separated us. But physical separation means nothing when hearts are connected.'

'And you include yourself in that?'

Kouichi had to pause a moment to gain his breath, closing his eyes and clutching his D-scanner tight.

'Yes,' he answered eventually. 'Yes I do.'

'Why?'

'Because they gave me exactly what I needed, even if it was more than I deserved.'

The pyramid wavered. He noticed. He had been waiting for that. Quicker than the other could blink, he had digivolved and vanished from the prison that encased him, reappearing in relative safety where he could he and see the other digimon, without being caught up too quickly by another sneak attack.

Anubismon, much less to his expectations but still to his surprise, sat on the ground gracefully.

'Peace,' he said, holding up a paw. 'Enough. Sit with me, and play, and I swear on my soul I will not harm you or your friends.'

The unsaid threat was more than apparent, and there didn't seem any harm in fulfilling that request, though he still felt a little apprehensive. There was just something about this particular digimon…

Or maybe it was the fact that they were almost out of time, and he was stuck here. But there was nothing more to be done, except wish haste and believe in him.

He didn't doubt him. He had taken down far worse. Even if the methods were, admittedly, slightly naïve and reckless at times. You did not play cat and mouse with a vulture out for blood, especially if you were enough of a threat to not be cast aside like Patamon. If Kouji hadn't been there, the other would have truly realised what it mean to come between a lioness and her prey. He may have learnt anyway, because for the briefest moment, he had looked scared for his life.

But there was nothing to be done, except obey, so he closed his eyes and let the data encase him.

'You know,' a familiar voice commented, scaring him out of his wits halfway through a dedigivolution. 'That's the longest speech I've ever hear you give.'

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes<span>

Ooh. Another cliffhanger. Sort of.

So now we know. The others' aren't dead. Yet. We're down to just Izumi and Takuya now…and Kouichi, sort of. Not really though. He's kind of stuck.

Anubis. Anyone seen the movie for Yu Gi Oh? Got the "Egyptian Lord of the Dead" from there, but everything else from wikimon. Yes, he does use Egyptian characters.

And now Izumi and Takuya are stuck in a tunnel with dead ends all round. How are they going to get out of it? You'll have to wait and see. :)

Hehe, Kouichi didn't have to fight. Physically anyway.


	5. Wind

For What it's Worth

Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.

Takuya K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

><p>He looked around in shock, blue eyes darting to every nook and cranny across the room.<p>

Anubismon, across from him, chuckled. 'You look like you've seen a ghost,' he said, amused. 'But ghost or no ghost, sit. I am not a very patient mon.'

Kouichi sat. What else could he do?

'Good. Now we play.'

_Play?_

The floor suddenly split again, but not into a pyramid. Instead, the yellow lines sketched out an eight-by-eight grid, colouring every other square. Pieces, each with an Egyptian rune, appeared, lined up like a little army. Familiar pieces…

'Chess?'

'Of course. We have the time.'

He heard laughter, and eyes darted almost frantically again, before placating. 'Where are my friends? And my brother?'

'Around,' the other replied casually.

'I realise that,' the warrior of darkness returned, rather sarcastically.

Anubismon smiled, rathe genuinely, but immediately after, the recipient questioned his sight. 'How about I just show you instead?'

A paw lifted rapidly, before the other had time to react.

'_Ammemit!'_

_ '_Kouichi!' Three voices shouted at once.

To the expectations of one, and the utter shock of the other (four), the angry demonic beast passed through the frozen child…and did nothing.

'What in the-?'

'It devours the digi-core of _evil_ digimon,' the God emphasised. 'Surely you knew that.'

'Well, that's about as solid as a proof you're going to get.' That was Junpei's voice, torn between astonishment and amusement. 'But that was a bit of a gamble.'

There was a growl that sounded suspiciously like Kouji, causing the other to immediately amend. 'That's not what I meant. Not a gamble. Nope. No risk there. None at all.'

A giggle. Tomoki.

Kouichi decided he had better ignore them now as white, the God of Darkness, made the first move.

Leaving its warrior to follow after, with a slightly shaking hand, as the air around them melted, for lack of a better word.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

Wind

* * *

><p>Takuya finally stopped running once the light vanished from behind them.<p>

'Dammit,' he cursed, striking the wall with his fist, but Izumi didn't hear him.

'Is someone singing?' she wondered.

'Singing?' the brunette repeated. 'Five friends gone, one trapped and can't even fight back-'

'Hey,' the blonde interrupted, half annoyed at being ridiculed, and half worried about the other's legendary tenacity. 'You're the one who told Kouichi to listen to his heart that's telling they're fine, so don't you start painting black paint on them yet. And I'm serious! I hear someone singing.'

Takuya fell silent on both fronts, then he heard it too. The honey sweet tone overflowing with sensuality and elegance, making him involuntarily shiver.

It was beautiful yes, but it was rather annoying.

So he did the rational thing. He blocked his ears.

Izumi gave him a rather odd look, before yanking him away from the passage they had been standing in front off, backing away with the other and making sure not to breathe in the grey gas which could not possibly be a good thing.

'God,' Takuya stared. 'You couldn't have gotten a creepier stalker. Actually,' he amended. 'You could have. A guy version.'

'Excuse me?' the female said, affronted, before her face melted into a rather convincing smile. 'Care to entertain me young warrior?'

'Not a chance,' the pseudo-Italian interrupted before the warrior of flame followed his 'act before you think' policy. 'You'll have to get through me first.'

'Izumi-' Takuya began, before being cut off.

'Takuya, you're almost out of time. And no-body's risking anything for you to sit on your sorry ass and play hooky with a psycho lady, got it?'

'Got it,' the boy whimpered slightly, wondering which female, for a moment, was scarier. But then he caught a glimpse of the snake head, and decided.

'Good luck,' he said, before running off the way he came, only remembering a minute or two later that he was running back towards a dead end. With one and a half minutes of time left.

Not that he had the time to know that. But he knew it was flowing away, fast.

The blonde however was more focused on the female goddess of art, wisdom, war and health. One could even go as so far to call her D'arcmon's God, because that was essentially what she was. Defender of the land, water and air borne, dancer of the winds.

'Medusa,' the Ultimate Digimon introduced, showing her left hand, and the snake with which it ended, hissing darkly. 'One look into her eyes, and you turn to stone…forever. Beauty preserved, life frozen, immortality granted at the price of growth. It doesn't seem that bad an exchange.'

Izumi gritted her teeth, carefully focusing on the sharp teeth instead, ready to snap her eyes shut on a moment's notice if need be.

'That would be the easy way out,' she said strongly. 'But there's far more to life than simply living.'

Her fingers enclosed about the lilac D-scanner, code encircling her fingers moments later.

'Execute, Fusion Evolution. JetSilphymon.'

The other smiled confidently, yet elegantly. 'What good are you underground warrior of Wind? With barely any room to flutter about?'

'I can still conjure up a storm,' JetSilphymon declared. 'Let's see how well you dance against the wind. Ultra Turbulance!'

The propellers she held spin fast, whipping the stale air underground and transforming it into powerful gusts. The torrent halted there, spinning around them to collide with the walls, keeping the Medusa snake clouded in gust, but doing nothing else…yet.

The sharp eyes under the mask watch the other woman carefully.

'An introduction?' she questioned. 'It's only polite.'

'Indeed,' the other agreed. 'It's Mervamon.' She lifted the heavy looking sword on her right arm. 'And this is _Orinpia Kai_.'

'You wouldn't happen to be one of the Olympus Twelve, would you?' Izumi asked, picking up on the translation.

'Indeed,' the green haired woman nodded, braids flying in the gust. 'Did you think only males can hold the status of God?' But she sounded rather amused as she said it.

'Of course not,' JetSilphymon frowned. 'Woman have just as much power and right.'

'A woman against a woman,' Mervamon sighed, before smiling again. 'It is much more satisfying fighting as equals than gaining the upper edge with charm.'

'That's low,' the other scowled.

'I do not control it. I cannot help how I look.'

'You can help how you use that as a weapon,' she pointed out. 'At least dress decently.'

She had a point. The other's clothes were _very_ revealing.

'You're not much better.'

'I cannot help how I look,' the warrior of wind tossed back, causing the other to scowl slightly.

This was reminding Izumi a little of Ranamon.

'So, what's the game plan?' she asked, hefting her weapon. 'Fight, chat or hang around till your boss gives us back our friends, 'cause I'm all for that last option if you keep all your fingers and snakes down.'

'And if I don't?'

'Then you'd better watch out, 'cause no stone's about to become my friends.'

'And what makes you say I've any interest in them.'

'Oh, how about the way you were looking at Takuya?' The warrior hissed, a little like a protective mother hen.

'Oh him,' the other woman laughed airily, waving him off. 'Marsmon would be most displeased with me if he lost the chance to face the warrior of flame head on. The warrior of darkness on the other hand, he's fair game right now. It doesn't take that long to finish a game against someone who only knows the rules and none of the tactics, dear.'

'What?' That confused her for a bit, before the main gist clicked. 'Don't you even think of doing anything to Kouichi!'

'Or how about that cute little warrior of ice?' she questioned. 'He's a fine child. A tad indisposed right now, but…' Her voice trailed off as the other's grip tightened, but to her surprise but somewhat pleasure, nothing changed.

The wind still remained controlled under a firm hand.

'Hebi Punch!'

Mervamon lunged suddenly with her sword, the other parrying with her own weapon. The two clashed, the wind swirling and raging about them, biting, lashing, protecting…the stern shield and the ultimate spear at the same time. Eventually, both weapons went crashing into the walls behind them, shaking the metallic structure and springing them apart with what room allowed, panting from the exertion.

Both looked windblown, but neither had looked more beautiful. But while Mervamon's was sensual, JetSilphymon possessed a strength that hardened that, a beautifully carved but strong face, a war-maiden.

'Tell me,' Mervamon began conversationally, stroking her snake hand. 'Have you anyone waiting?'

'Of course I do,' the other retorted, carefully watching for a sneak attack while keeping the other half of her mind on the conversation. 'My _friends.'_

'Who are all male may I add?'

'You most certainly may,' Izumi said, a little frostily. 'But what does gender matter?'

'Ah,' the other woman shook her head. 'You misunderstand. Tell me, why are you the last of your friends to fight?'

'Maybe cause you and your "friends" have organised yourselves that way. My attacks go straight through those of that fox lady. Jupitermon would probably use my wind to char us. We didn't even see what happen to Tomoki and that digimon that attacked Kouichi used a pyramid made of _light_. You tell me what good I'm there.'

'And who's talking?' she asked. 'I believe I heard one of your friends say that.'

'Sure you did,' Izumi replied. 'Probably 'cause they did. That still doesn't change the fact that it's true. Takuya didn't protest here, did he? And if you say Kouichi's fair game, where is he?'

'A little preoccupied with the jackel,' the green-haired lady huffed, a little upset but gratified at the same time. 'So what's going to happen to your friends now, with no-body beside them?'

JetSilphymon smirked at her. 'Who says there's no one else? We've got a bond, so it doesn't matter what physical distance separates us. We'll always have each other's backs.'

'We'll see what I can do about that, warrior of wind.' She raised her left hand.

'Absolutely nothing.' She raised both.

'Love Poison!'

'Jet Winter!'

The sudden, icy cold blast, canooned into the snake that expanded its jaws, colliding into the black mist that had just begun sneaking out from its mouth and causing a dense fog thick and almost white with the barest hint of grey to cloud them both.

But not soon enough, because yellow eyes, almost washed out by the spreading winter, stared back.

Medusa crumbled, but not the stone.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes<span>

_Orinpia Kai – _Olympia Revision

Medusa - Medusa is a monster in greek mythology who, when anybody looked directly into her eyes, turned them to stone. She is beheaded, and her head is then used as a weapon until it is placed on Athena's shield.

Mervamon – one of the Olympus Twelve (real character, she's in Xros Wars) and based off Mernva, the Etruscan Goddess of war, art, wisdom and health (Wikipedia). She's like the Greek Goddess Athena.


	6. Fire

For What it's Worth

Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.

Takuya K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

><p>Takuya was really getting fed up with this. He was starting to doubt if it was even worth searching blindly anymore; he was alone, his friends were gone who knows where, and he was no closer to finding this Apollo thing than the next guy over. The corridors just lead to dead ends. The one he had been in was blocked off at the end Izumi had been in with the other weird lady (it grossed him out for some reason), and he was sure the pyramid Kouichi was trapped in was blocking the other end-<p>

-or not, as he realised when entering the centre room again, finding nothing out of place.

'Kouichi?' he asked a little hesitantly, aloud, before whipping out his D-scanner in slight desperation. The dark purple dot was still there, as were the other five, the lilac one a little ways away from the others but coming closer.

He turned to the corridor he had just come through, only for it to shut in his face.

'Izumi!' he yelled.

'She's not there,' another male voice, this one sounding rather cocky and a tad annoyed, commented. 'And your times almost up.'

'Sure,' the warrior of fire growled. 'Next, you're going to say I have to get through you? Forget it. I'm here for my friends, not for some arrogant digimon who stands in my way.'

The fanged creature on two legs snarled. 'I am Apollomon's right hand,' he declared. 'You won't find his domain without beating me.'

'In…how many minutes?'

'Two, not that it matters. You won't beat me at all, and this battle is not deducted from your time limit.'

'And why would I want to go into Apollomon's domain?'

'Are you dense or naïve?' the God of War roared. 'Your friends are his, until you fulfil your audience with him.'

'And if I do?' Takuya asked, rather ticked off and more so by the guy's attitude.

'That depends,' Marsmon responded. 'On if you can handle the heat.'

'Then…by all means, bring it!'

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

Fire

* * *

><p>'Execute, Fusion Evolution. Ardhamon!'<p>

If Marsmon was impressed, he didn't show it, instead declaring his own name in the same tone, following it up with his fiery fists. Ardhamon parried by whacking firmly with his tail, slamming the other into the wall…or trying to, but the other moved out of the way, and so the joust continued.

'What's the big idea?' Ardhamon yelled, shooting his Corona Blasters once he got a good shot.

'To get rid of you and your weak friends,' Marsmon sneered, though Takuya detected a bluff. 'You can't even handle one Ultimate digimon on your own, and you call yourself the warrior of Flame. Same goes for all your friends.'

'I bet they kicked your buts,' said warrior shot back, and rather confidently too. He didn't doubt his friends' abilities. What he was doubting was their location.

'Where are they then?' Cocky again. That bastard.

'Right here,' Ardhamon returned, finally succeeding in slamming the other into the wall before summoning a ball of fire in his hands. He retained from firing it though, waiting to see what the other would do.

'Corona Sanctions!'

The ball of fire collided with that.

'Didn't your mummy ever tell you not to pay with fire?' the Ultimate goaded, as the heat blew away, burning no-one.

'What's my mother got to do with this?'

'Absolutely nothing,' the God grinned, showing off his fanged teeth and readying his fists for round two. 'But tell me, if your friends are fine, where are they?'

'Um…they're probably caught somewhere,' Ardhamon stuttered a little at the question, before pressing on. 'Or you and your flunkies are holding them up.'

'I thought you said they'd have no problem taking care of us?'

'I said nothing of the sort,' Takuya corrected. 'Don't go putting words into my mouth.'

'So you don't think they will win?'

'Corona Blaster!'

The blasts were dodged.

'Tut tut,' Marsmon said, waving a finger. 'Temper, temper. Who's to say my friends haven't destroyed them already?'

'Because I believe in them, and I believe my heart,' the warrior of flame fired back. 'And both are telling me they're still right here.'

'Mugen Hadou!'

The sudden attack slammed him into the wall with a wince.

'And these friends are making you weak?' the ultimate observed. 'Pathetic. You're concern is only serving to be your downfall.'

'Not at all,' Ardhamon grinned, showing his hands, which had captured the energy and expanded it. 'You were right. You shouldn't play with fire…cause you're only gonna get burnt.'

He sent the fire back with more force than the other could muster and not even the Corona Sanctions was enough to hold it back.

Hiiii-yah!' The warrior of fire cheered, before scowling as another Corona Sanctions was sent back at him. 'Geez, aren't you going to give up?'

'You'll have to destroy me first,' the other snarled.

'Sorry,' Takuya said. 'I only destroy digimon who are really asking for it, trying to destroy innocent digimon and the digital world. You're neither, so you're going to just have to either give up or keep fighting till you drop.'

'Pathetic.'

'So you've said. And oh yeah, about that friend thing.' He smirked. 'It's all because of them that I'm as strong as I am.'

'We'll see how strong that is,' Marsmon growled, sending another _Mugen Hadou_ at him, following it with a third as the giant wings strained to maintain balance with the second, causing it to collide head on. 'Tell me, where are your friends now?'

'There RIGHT HERE! AND THEY'LL ALWAYS BE! NO MATTER WHAT!'

Random things fluttered into his mind then, little things, seemingly useless. Things that defined his friends, like how Izumi loved climbing, how Junpei was aspiring to be a famous designer, how Kouji's dog was so totally spoilt, how Tomoki's older brother was the kind that taught the hard way, how Kouichi tended to lean more towards strategy than brute force, contraire to his spill as Duskmon, causing the fire warrior of talk something about chess to him, seeing as he was trying to get his head around the game himself.

'Knock out the king with the rook,' he said, not even sure why but knowing he needed to. 'Head on. No problem.'

Marsmon stared oddly at him, sending another Corona Sanctions…which was blocked by a black and gold shield as the air, quite literally, shattered.

'The heck?' the angry digimon coughed, glaring at the fusion evolved warrior of darkness that had seemingly popped up out of nowhere, before turning to glare at Anubismon. 'Useless.'

Anubismon raised his hands. 'He's a fine chess player.'

'Chess?' Takuya asked incredulously. 'You can't be serious?'

'Unfortunately, yes,' Kouichi replied, moving to shield Anubismon from more fire. 'And thanks for the advice.'

'Huh?'

'Don't interfere,' Marsmon snarled at him.

'How about you stop firing at us then,' the warrior of thunder replied, bracing the warrior of fire by his large tank.

'Um...thanks?' Takuya half-asked, completely thrown for a loop. 'Where'd you all come from?'

'No idea,' the small Daipenmon grinned, air cool enough around him to stop the fire ring in its tracks. 'I think I heard you calling.'

'Same here,' JetSilphymon grinned, fanning the flames away. 'Couldn't stay out of trouble without us, eh?'

'Like Takuya ever could stay out of trouble,' Beowolfmon commented.

Mervamon laughed. 'They're quite the spirit,' she commented, slumping against the wall. 'This one outspoke me in minutes.'

The others voiced their agreements.

'Let him go, Marsmon,' a voice interrupted them. 'He has proven his worth and thensome.'

Takuya twitched. 'You mean, that was what this was about? Testing us? Geez, you couldn't have picked a better way than throwing my friends into danger like that, splitting us up, then trying to make us doubt each other? You're lucky I don't just go over there and kick your ass into next Thursday, because it's very tempting.'

There was a laugh, interrupting Marsmon's angry objections, then the sun quite literally appeared.

'The one room where the sun shines in the darkness,' Kouichi mumbled to himself, before face palming his forehead. 'Figures. Heart. Apollomon,' he added afterwards, as a sort of greeting.

'Indeed warrior of darkness,' Apollomon returned, bowing his head to the human turned digimon. 'I see you're looking…happier?'

Kouichi blinked.

'Thanks to a bunch of naïve brats,' the God of War muttered.

'Marsmon,' Dianamon chided.

'His words, not mine.' He pointed at Reichmon, who flushed under his mask.

The other legendary warriors looked at him. '_You_ sad that about _us_?' Kouji asked.

Reichmon nodded, causing him to chortle. 'True enough.'

He got odd looks in return, except for Takuya, who turned back to glare at the leader. 'Mind explaining? And don't take too long. I don't have that much patience.'

'I suppose I'm getting off easy,' the God of the Sun noted, before beginning. 'I heard of your victory over the corrupted Cherubimon. A new hybrid level that relied on the fusion of five spirits. I was impressed, admittedly; perhaps you humans could do what we digimon failed to and save our world. But I am a God. It is my nature to interfere with things, and it didn't sit well with me that six mere children held the fate of our worlds with their only source of strength from each other, where it could so easily snap.'

'So you broke us apart, testing us individually,' Izumi surmised. 'Seeing if our friendship was strong enough to hold that. And that revealed a few things to us we needed to learn.'

'Not just that,' Tomoki pointed out. 'There was some refining tactics in there.' He looked at Kouichi there. 'Well, except maybe for you. You got off easy.'

'Not necessarily,' Anubismon said in that solomn way of his. 'He gave quite a speech. And quite a match. Though I might have won if the warrior of fire hadn't interfered.'

'I didn't do anything,' Takuya said automatically, forgetting his frustration.

'You told him to use the rook,' the god of death replied.

'I probably would have anyway,' Kouichi pointed out. 'Eventually.'

'True enough. But it saved us a few seconds of our lives.'

The three female gods rolled their eyes. 'Darkness, death and obsessed,' Mervamon grinned, winking at Kouichi and making him flush awkwardly. 'Don't go being as boring as him dear.'

'Hold it!' Takuya yelled again, seeing the light dimming. 'Where are Bokomon, Neemon and Patamon.'

'Right here.' That was D'arcmon, and with her-

'Hi everyone!'

'Patamon! Neemon! Bokomon!'

'Good luck warriors.' That was Apollomon, already fading. 'We must return to our own plane of existence now, for we were destroyed long ago.'

'Huh?'

The humans watched as the light vanished completely, leaving them in utter darkness, except for the light in their hearts.

'Does anyone else find that entire exchange somewhat unsatisfactory?' Takuya grumbled.

Kouichi shrugged in the dark. 'They're Gods. They're just like that.'

'And you would know how?'

'Books, and Cherubimon complaining.'

'Ah…you know,' the brunette added. 'You're being much more talkative.

The others could almost see the shy boy blushing, and burst into laughter at his expense.

Well…not so much at his expense, because he joined in after a moment.

'But seriously, they got off way to easily.'

'Sure did,' Izumi's voice agreed, taking on a scolding tone. 'That slut.'

Tomoki's voice giggled. 'Come on Izumi-chan, she wasn't that bad.'

'That's because you weren't high enough off the ground to see her cleavage. And you boys-'

'Don't look at me,' Kouji retorted. 'My woman was fully clothed, and she didn't so much as glance at me.'

'Or me,' Junpei added, sounding a little forlorn. 'I don't even know whether or not I should take that as an insult.'

'Trust me,' Takuya said. 'She was creepy. So was Kuzuhamon. Seriously, attacking Kouichi like that.'

'Thanks for the reminder,' Kouji scowled. 'I never payed her back for that.'

'Are we going to continue on?' Kouichi asked, cutting Junpei off by accident. 'What's done is done. More important now is getting that digi-code back and saving the digital world.'

Six fists went in the air. 'Yeah!'

'I'm still stewing about this later.'

'Do that in your own time goggle-head.'

* * *

><p><span>Post Author's Notes<span>

And that's the end. Hope you enjoyed.

Apparently, gods have a habit of being extremely annoying. At least, in all the fiction about them I've read. They also have a habit of poking their noses where they really don't belong.

For those who don't know, Marsmon is based of Mars, the Roman God of the Sun, and Apollomon off Apollo, Greek God of the Sun etc. Both are real digimon, with their real attacks, appearances and what not. The only one I had to improvise with was Jupitermon, who had no info under his name.

Notice, they never explain the weird dimension thing. Basically, their plane is a subset of the Digital Plane, sort of like the existence of the Ancient Warriors. They've got faucets in the digital world, but mostly can't make a difference. They do interfere on occasions such as these, amounting to no real physical change. Changing the world physically (like destroying digimon or fighting the bad guys) is, for them, against the laws.


End file.
